International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),

ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 100-106 IAEME
100











AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO MINIMIZE THE WASTE & COST IN INDIAN
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY


Soumya Gupta
1
, R K Pandey
2
, C S Mishra
3
, A K Rai
4


1,2,3
Dept. of Civil Engineering, SHIATS, Allahabad-211007, U.P, India

4
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, SHIATS, Allahabad-211007, U.P, India



ABSTRACT

Construction is a vital connection to the infrastructure and growth of industry in India.
Building roads, bridges and other constructed facilities play an important role in shaping societys
future. Consequently, the construction Industry produces a vast quantity of waste which is
environmentally unfriendly, and costly to project budgets. This study aimed to find out how much
construction waste is costing construction project budgets, and attempted to make recommendations
to the industry on how profits can be maximized and how the waste can be minimized. For the
empirical investigation, a mixed methodology was used which combined questionnaire and interview
data from stakeholders in the road construction sector, together with documentary and observational
data, to examine the issue of construction waste and cost management. The research revealed that a
number of construction companies in India, do not adhere to international best practices and
standards. Practices such as site waste management plan, waste minimization strategies were found
to be non- existent in these companies. A number of recommendations were made to improve the
practices of the construction firms as per the need to train every construction employee on waste
management and also recommended for government agencies to monitor and enforce rule of waste
management in the construction industry.

Keywords: Waste Minimization, Cost Reduction, Waste Management.

INTRODUCTION

In general, a very high level of waste is assumed to exist in construction. Although it is
difficult to systematically measure all wastes in construction, various studies from various countries
have confirmed that waste represents a relatively large percentage of production costs. For example,
the construction and demolition industry annually produces three times the amount of waste
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
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generated by all households combined in India. In this research we provide details of waste scenarios
of today set against the potential to improve in the future, and actions that could be taken to realize
those improvements.
A wide range of measure have been used for monitoring waste, such as excess consumption
of materials, quality failure costs and maintenance and repair costs, accident, and non productive
means.
Measuring waste is an effective way to assess the performance of production systems because
it usually allows areas of potential improvement to be pointed out and the main causes of
inefficiency to be identified. Compared to traditional financial measures, waste measures are more
effective to support process management, since they enable some operational costs to be properly
modelled and generate information that is usually meaningful for the employees, creating conditions
to implement decentralized control.
In fact, waste elimination is a major focus for process improvement in the Lean Production
paradigm. Originated in Japan in the 1950s, this is an important development trend in manufacturing,
based on both the Total Quality Management (TQM) and Just in Time (JIT) production philosophies.
Furthermore, environmental conditions in the cities are appalling due to inadequate provision for
services such as water supply, sanitation and waste disposal. These problems, and many others,
constitute obstacles to the socio-economic development of the country and, therefore, hinder
improvements in the lives of the population.
On the other hand, the poor environmental conditions in the cities to low institutional
capacity for urban management, poor physical planning and the lack of enforcement of development
laws, poor provision of infrastructure and services for environmental maintenance and low public
awareness of environmental hygiene.

OBJECTIVES

The research has the following objectives:

1. To identify the critical sources and causes of construction waste.
2. To assess the environment and social concerns of operations management.
3. To review ways of reducing or minimizing cost related to waste in the construction industry.
4. To identify factors contribute to waste generation in the construction industry.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study presents the general approach and specific techniques adopted to address the
objectives for the research. It begins with a discussion of the quantitative and qualitative research and
the arguments for and against combining the two approaches in a single research. The strengths and
weaknesses of the two opposing approaches are briefly pointed out and the rationale for combining
them in a single study is further explained.




International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 100-106 IAEME
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Fig. 1: Breakdown of the type of Research Methodology

This survey designed in accordance with the following stages:

Stage one: Identify the topic and set some objectives.
Stage two: Pilot a questionnaire to find out what people know and what they see as the
important issues.
Stage three: List the areas of information needed and refine the objectives.
Stage four: Review the responses to the pilot.
Stage five: Finalise the objectives.
Stage six: Write the questionnaire.
Stage seven: Re-pilot the questionnaire.
Stage eight: Finalise the questionnaire.
Stage nine: Code the questionnaire.

The survey design to be used in this instance is both the quantitative and qualitative methods.
the purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of waste and cost reduction in the road
construction industry, using some companies in India as a case study. The varied nature of the data
required and different sources from which they had to be gathered made the mixed methods
approach appropriate.

SOMA Construction Ltd. and ISOLUX CORSAN Ltd. were the two companies selected for this
study. These companies will relate significantly to the study, especially the idea of reducing cost by
employing waste minimization tools. I was motivated to focus on Varanasi because it provided an
opportunity to investigate the problem of waste because they have ongoing road construction
projects.
The project selected for this study are is 4 lane road construction project of NH-2 from
Varanasi Aurangabad. It is a contract of 193KM of road which is distributed in two companies as a
consortium partners.
Questionnaires, interviews, observations and question guides were the main tools used in
generating the data for this study. The uses of the questionnaires allow both subjective and objective
views of respondents to be sourced.
Research
Methodology
Quantitative
Research
Qualitative
Research
International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 100-106 IAEME
103

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter aims to display the research results of this study. The researcher interpreted and
analyzed data and highlighted certain relation between the results. The total number of respondents
who participated in this study consisted of thirty. The questionnaires comprised of nineteen questions
respectively as the researcher aimed to do a thorough research investigation.
Two different questionnaires were administered, one for operation managers and the other for
site foremen. The research result first considered the result of the operation managers questionnaires
then that of the site foremen.
Both companies do not operate site waste management plan (SWMPs) on any of their
construction sites. The failure to operate waste management plan means that recycling is not
practiced and therefore waste is created without any attempt to curtail it. This obviously affects the
cost of projects and may even impact negatively into the profit margin of the firms.

Result finding from Data

1. Waste detection and waste rate
SOMA estimated their waste rate at 10% while PMC valued their waste as 9%. Both firms
believe that their acceptable waste rate is 5%.

2. Waste minimization plan
The researcher finds this practice unacceptable, especially when no clear methods of
detecting waste exist and calculating the acceptable cost of waste per project is capricious.
Moreover, there is no strategy in place in both firms on how to minimize waste.

3. The reasons of waste take in these firms
The respondents were asked to identify the three most prevalent forms of waste in their
operations. The three recorded waste forms are;

Excess material

Figure 3: Excess material Figure 4: Cause of excess

Field Data 2014 Field Data 2014

International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 100-106 IAEME
104

48% of SOMA labourers and 52% of ISOLUX believed that waste is generated through
excess material. According to the labourer this form of waste is cause by poor planning (20%), lack
of coordination between production and the design teams (42%) and poor design specification
(38%).
These results show that this form of waste is avoidable if there effective coordination
between the various departments in the management team. This form is waste is created due to
managements lack of harmony.

Delay

Figure 5: Delay Figure 6: Causes of delay

Field Data 2014 Field Data 2014

The respondents noted delay as another form of waste they are confronted with. This
assertion was noted by 62% of SOMA labourers and 38% of ISOLUX labourers. While a lot of delay
occurs at SOMA, less of delay seems to occur at ISOLUX.
Figure 6 displays the causes of this reason of waste. Each cause was allotted various
percentages by the respondents. Particularly;

i. late arrival of materials 20%

ii. The erratic release of fund 25%

iii. Unnecessary work 18%

iv. Poor project site layout 22%

v. Ambiguous information 10%

Ways of minimizing or reducing waste

They listed the following ways of reducing waste;


International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print),
ISSN 0976 6316(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 100-106 IAEME
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Table 4.6: Ways of Minimizing Waste

Suggestions
Companies

SOMA CONSTRUCTION %

ISOLUX %
Buying qualitative materials 36 64
Performing to specifications 52 48
Sell the generated waste 45 55
Proper storage 60 40
Employ experienced workers 63 37
Effective supervision 46 54

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

Governments lack of supervision and monitoring of these companies is a reason for their
non-compliance to international best practices and standards.
82% of the workforces agreed that waste management is worthwhile irrespective of cost.
However, the behavior of the construction workforce in the actual workplace indicates a lack of a
positive attitude and behavior towards waste minimization. This lack of practice of waste
management principles was found to be caused by other priorities during pre and post-construction
stages, such as profit, time, cost, etc.
Waste can only be reduced once all employees and contractors are fully aware of the extent
of the problem in the company. Each construction employee must be trained on waste management.
This training may include for example waste management induction training to reinforce the
importance of waste minimization practices.
Each contractor must be clearly notified of their duties and responsibilities in respect to waste
management. This must be incorporated into their contractual obligations. Sites need to present a
waste totals to date on a monthly basis. On-site supervision of the waste management plan must be
examined frequently. Regular waste management audits must be conducted to ensure that corrective
actions bring about waste reduction. A tracking system should indicate the success or failures of
corrective actions.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am grateful to Soma Construction Company & Isolux Corsan Ltd. Varanasi for providing
us some data related to their project of road construction from construction site & for questionnaire
survey. I would like to offer our sincere thanks to both the companies.

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